Tip: When I stamped the blue layer on top of the white, the stamp picked up a bit of the white pigment. To prevent the white from contaminating my pretty blue pad, I off-stamped it before re-inking with the blue. I started off-stamping on scrap paper, then saw how pretty it looked, so went for scrap card stock and created some tags:

I’m having fun experimenting with Stampin’ Up’s new Swirly Bird stamp set (and the matching dies, of course!) This stamp set has so many possibilities!

As you know, the first thing I do with any new toy, er, work product, is play … randomly stamping images on scrap paper, trying different colors, etc. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t!

Here’s a group shot after play time:

Very simple cards! Here are more detailed looks:

First I stamped the solid round base in Ranger/Tim Holtz’ Distress Ink Spun Sugar, then topped it by stamping the swirl in Abandoned Coral. The smaller daisy, from the same set, was stamped in Imagine Crafts’Kaleidacolor Bouquet, using the pink/orange colors. (Tip: Using the Kaleidacolor rainbow inkpads gave me easy access to several colors at once! I’m a long-time fan of these rainbow pads.)

The leaves were stamped first in Hero Arts Lime Green; my old (very old! Very, very old!) Marvy Matchable Bottle Green was used to stamp the veins. A dot of Ranger Stickles was added to the center of the daisies.

Simply changing the colors gave me a different look — a softer, pastel feel:

I used a very old gold inkpad to stamp the swirls (You can barely tell it’s gold!) and added the smaller flower using ColorBox Stephanie Barnard bubble gum pink. The base leaves were stamped in Hero Arts Pastel Mint and the stem in Hero Arts Lime Green.

And a matching envelope:

(I added a bold base for the pink swirls)

Switching it up, I went for blues: (starting with this discontinued bluebell card stock from Paper Source.)

I stamped the solid base in Hero Art’s Unicorn White pigment ink, then over-stamped used Stephanie Barnard’s Blueberry for the swirl and the smaller flowers. (I did a second generation stamping on a few of the smaller flowers to get a slightly lighter shade.)

The leaves were stamped in various greens, toped by that Bottle Green vein.

Let’s jump right in … here are some more results from my gel printing extravaganza!

As I mentioned in my last post, I used the 3×5 inch plate from Gel Press.

Here’s the big picture:

It’s so fast and easy to make a batch of cards once you have the backgrounds done! For many of these, I added some stamped images to the backgrounds to provide more interest, mostly using Imagine Crafts’ StazOn ink. And then I just added various sentiments.

The card below is a little different. Instead of using the gel print itself, I used this piece to “off-stamp.” I stamped on the wet paint using Art Foamies, then off-stamped on a piece of card stock. I added a sentiment (from docrafts, black embossed and fussy-cut) and some Robin’s Nest Dew Drops.

As you know, not every print is a winner. But even the “fails” can be used. For example, for this one below, I over stamped with StazOn Jet Black, then cut the piece into tiles, edged the tiles with black Sharpie and mounted them to a folded card front. I decided it needed a frame, so I made some score lines. Easy. And now it’s one of my faves.

Some of the fails (and you know there were a lot!!!) I turned into tags:

The pieces were mounted to card stock.

It’s amazing how quickly these cards and tags came together, which is one of the advantages of making a big ol’ stack of backgrounds to have handy!

In my last post I used a new layering die from Hero Arts. The company also has some lovely layering stamp sets, which is a popular technique today and adds depth to stamped images.

I love these layering stamps.

Normally, I would stamp these on white card stock with inks in pretty floral hues. This time, I took a slightly different path, starting with a white base (Hero Arts Unicorn white pigment ink) on darker card stock:

March is National Craft Month! Imagine, an entire month to celebrate making things!

I’m starting the month right with some cards featuring new “layering” items from Hero Arts.

First up is this great layering die, Large Lotus (Hero Arts DI 161). This die, like the other layering dies in the release (pineapple, star, etc.) is designed to just partially cut an image. (Although it doesn’t have to be limited to a partial cut, as I’ll show you below.)

In this card, I used the die as it was meant to be used, with just certain portions die cut so you can pop up the leaves. Cute, eh? After cutting the panel, I decided I wanted to layer on some color, so I created a mask by cutting the die on plain copy paper.

To get the center “hole” I simply cut the flower out by carefully snipping the edges of the outer petals.

I edged the white panel with gold Delicata ink and glued it on this Stampin’ Up! card stock (being careful not to put glue on the popped up petals! I added some Doodlebug Designs sequins and the sentiment. “Sending,” (Simon Says Stamp die SSSD111432), was cut from white card stock then colored using a black Wink of Stella pen. The rest of the sentiment is from an old Hero Arts Mini Message set CL307.

OK, now I can show you how I cut out the lotus and used it as I would any other die cut piece:

I die cut the lotus from some watercolored scraps leftover from another project, carefully snipped where the petals were connected to the paper and layered it over this embossed background, the new Em-Bossing Fold’ers Grid from Spellbinders®… such a contemporary pattern! Love it! I edged that panel using a gold metallic marker, added a sentiment (Hero Arts) and some gems.

Here’s another version, again using leftovers (old alcohol ink coloring), and put it on a gift tag using Glue Dots™:

Here are some other versions, each done with different markers or inks, including Distress, Memento and Faber-Castell Gelatos. (My apologies… they were done so long ago I don’t remember exactly which I used on what. But that’s the fun, right? Just experiment with what you have!)

As noted in my last post, I’ve been playing with Hero Art’s new Ombre ink pads, which I love. These tri-colored pads are great for adding interest to one-layer cards, giving a quick burst of color with little effort.

Here’s another one:

This was so quick and easy it’s almost embarrassing.

First I took a piece of Post-it® tape, tore the edges, and created a mask:

I then brayered over the card front using Hero Arts’ Ombre Pink to Red and Butter to Orange.

Here’s what I got when I pulled off the mask:

Cool, eh?

Then I simply stamped the bicycle and the sentiment in VersaMark black. I made several blank ones to be used later when I need more specific cards. (Both stamps from Ken Oliver Crafts.)

About

Roberta is a writer by trade, a crafter by accident. She was a contributing writer with The Rubber Stamper Magazine since its inception and now holds the same position at Crafts 'n Things. Read more about her in the About Me column.